Well, that wasn't quite as apocalyptic as everyone was fearing. As always, there were plenty of shocks, snubs, and surprises, as well as a hefty dose of downright ugly and unforgivable moments, but it was far from the total disaster many thought it may be. Where we go from here is anyone's guess, so, for now, let's break down the good, the bad, and the ugly of the 91st Academy Award nominations.
THE GOOD
We may have our most solid frontrunner in Roma, after scoring a tied field-leading 10 nominations....

Well, this awards season has sure been a rollercoaster of insanity. From the collapse of early frontrunners like First Man and Widows to the rise of divisive and "controversial" films like Green Book and Bohemian Rhapsody, it's been a calamity of surprising moments few could have anticipated. But the madness of this time of year is what we awards prognosticators live for, even if we're all feeling a little lost and deflated this season.
After a year of brilliant cinema, we've ended up with a potential Oscars ceremony from...

Australian cinema has somewhat of an obsession with crafting adorable animal characters audiences instantly fall in love with. From the gutsy little pig in Babe to the tough cattle dog in Red Dog to those toe-tapping penguins in Happy Feet, it's a long-running subgenre we Aussies do particularly well. A pelican hardly seems the next likely evolutionary step in this chain of cute creature films, but in Storm Boy, you're likely to find yourself captivated by these awkward birds. It's just a shame the film surrounding them is somewhat of a dud.
A...

The legend of King Arthur and his infamous sword in the stone has been portrayed on the big screen many, many, many, many times. The most recent effort, Guy Ritchie's 2017 mega-flop King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, was a gargantuan and unmitigated disaster. Wisely flipping the fable right on its head in The Kid Who Would Be King, writer/director Joe Cornish reboots the well-worn tale with a 21st-century setting and a fresh narrative injected with socially aware themes cleverly hidden amongst good old fashioned family fun.
With the...

The Jammies hit the fifth year milestone, and it's a joy to bring you The Jam Report's little slice of awards season fun for another year. After another sublime 12 months for cinema, it's been a tough challenge to pick this year's nominees and winners, but we always get there in the end.
If you've been following The Jammies for the last few years, you may notice a few new categories have been added and a few have been cut. With so much negativity already permeating everywhere online, it was...

Two years ago, a sequel came along few could have known actually existed as a sequel until the film's surprise final moments. Sorry to spoil this for you, but with one brief climatic scene, writer/director M. Night Shyamalan proved he could still deliver a killer twist to stun an audience. By unexpectedly connecting his 2017 film Split with that of his criminally underrated 2000 picture Unbreakable, he created a new cinematic universe no one ever really expected, and, thus, laid the foundation for a third film where it all comes together.
A psychological...

When the first two films of an eventual trilogy are all sorts of wonderful, the third and penultimate chapter has a lot to live up to. Most completely fall over themselves. Think Spider-Man 3, X-Men: The Last Stand, and The Godfather Part III. But every so often, we get the rare threequel that is every bit as terrific (and maybe even better) than the films that preceded it. The gold standard has always been Toy Story 3, which (at the time) wrapped up Pixar's marvellous franchise in spectacular fashion. Move over,...

Predicting the nominees for the Golden Globes is hard. Predicting the winners is nigh-on impossible. With all sorts of category fraud this year and a bevvy of big celebrities nominated, this could take all sorts of nutty paths. We could see another La La Land style sweep and A Star Is Born takes the lion's share of the big prizes. Or this could be the moment Black Panther pounces and makes its strongest play for that Best Picture Oscar.
And without other pseudo musicals A Star Is Born and Bohemian Rhapsody in its way (yes, they're "dramas" in the...

It seems like only yesterday we were bidding farewell to 2017, and yet, here we are doing it all again with 2018. It's been another magnificent year for cinema. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. As always, the best came towards the latter stages of the year, but, on the whole, it was a spectacular roster of bombastic blockbusters, indie darlings, foreign language wonders, and quite a few glorious surprise packages.
We film critics live a charmed life where we are blessed to see dozens and dozens of films...

Absurdist cinema is not for everyone. The directorial work of master of the bizarre Yorgos Lanthimos likely hasn't sat well with most audiences. By the same token, period films aren't exactly most people's cup of tea either. When presented with an absurdist period piece directed by Lanthimos, one may have some trepidation. Leave your apprehension at the door. It's not needed here. With his latest work, we are gifted with one of the year's most raucously glorious and wickedly delicious pieces of cinema.
Standing as Lanthimos' most accessible film...